Jaylen Brown expects to hear from the league about his throat-slash dunk celebration
"Just caught up in the moment, I guess," Brown said.
Jaylen Brown did not hesitate when he was asked if he was expecting to hear from the league about a celebration that he made following a dunk over Detroit forward Isaiah Stewart in the first quarter.
“Oh yeah,” he said, nodding as he glanced off to the side.
Brown slashed into the green TD Garden paint and took off from just outside the restricted-area arc, rising over Stewart for a poster-worthy two-handed slam.
He hung on the rim for a beat, stared down Stewart after he descended back to the floor, and pretended to slash his throat.
Brown has, on several recent occasions, opted for a milder celebration where he pretends to put on a seatbelt.
But, not tonight. Not after that dunk. Brown felt his emotions rise and decided that the moment called for something a little different.
“Just caught up in the moment, I guess,” Brown said. “Big play. I think that the NBA and the NBPA are sensitive about the gestures and things like that, so you’ve got to be mindful of that.”
Former Heat star Dwyane Wade was fined $25,000 for a throat slash gesture against the Celtics in 2016 when he buried a clutch 3-pointer over Avery Bradley in the closing minute of a win.
Wade also said at the time that he got caught up in the moment during a public apology he made to fans. The gesture was outlawed in both the NBA and NFL decades ago.
Later on in the game, Stewart appeared to push Brown. Brown said he wasn’t sure if that had anything to do with the dunk. Stewart and Kristaps Porzingis also received technical fouls during a separate incident.
“Yeah, or not. I feel like he’s always doing stuff like that,” Brown said. “I think that is how he plays the game. But, you know, my focus is on coming out, running the offense, getting our team into the right positions, so I didn’t want to get distracted. But, there was definitely some going back and forth and we’re not tolerating that this year from anybody.”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said that Brown saw the floor well during the win, saying that the decision to elevate for the dunk was a good one.
“It’s been fun to watch him grow over the last few years in his reads and if you watch him,” Mazzulla said, “you’ll be able to see him process the game in real-time and see the adjustments that are being made on him, recognizing the matchup, recognizing the spacing.
“There was a couple times when I was like ‘get what you want’,” he added. “Dictate the defense. He plays at a pace two where he can get to the spacing that he wants. He can get the shot that he wants.”
With Jayson Tatum out, Brown took an aggressive approach to scoring the ball. He led the team with 28 points on 10-21 shooting. He posted six assists against four turnovers.
“A lot of my weaknesses in the past, I’ve attacked,” Brown said. “So being able to run a team, run an offense is something I look forward to, those moments.
“Obviously our team won’t see it as much because we’ve got a lot of guys that are ball dominant and are really good players but in these moments where you have to step up and make plays tonight was a night when I wanted to get my teammates involved, especially in the second half.”
“I don’t think we shot it as well in the second half but we had a plethora of good looks.”
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